18 People in Florida Have Contracted Fungal Meningitis

Tallahassee, FL (AP) -- An Escambia county man is the latest Floridian to contract meningitis from a tainted steroid shot.

State health officials said Monday that the 55-year-old man is the 18th person in the state to contract fungal meningitis. The nationwide outbreak of this rare disease is linked to patients seeking pain relief received contaminated steroid injections.

The injections all came from contaminated lots of steroids made by the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts. An investigation of how the medicine became tainted is underway.

Three people in Florida have died from fungal meningitis after receiving the shots. Officials say the incubation period of the disease is 7 to 81 days after receiving the shots.

Nationwide, 297 people have contracted meningitis in 16 states and 23 have died.

Tallahassee, FL (AP) - October 19, 2012 - The number of confirmed fungal meningitis cases in Florida continues to grow.

Florida health officials announced Friday that there are now 17 confirmed cases in the state connected to the use of contaminated steroids used for back pain.

There are four new confirmed cases. Three of the people suffering from fungal meningitis are from Marion County and the other person is from Escambia County.

The state reported earlier this week that three people have died as a result of the fungal meningitis outbreak. Nationwide the death toll has risen to 20 people.

Meningitis is caused by the inflammation of protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Tainted spinal injections would directly put germs into that part of the body.

AP-WF-10-19-12 1550GMT

St. Petersburg, FL (AP) -- A third Floridian who contracted meningitis from a tainted steroid injection has died.

State health officials said Wednesday that the 78-year-old Marion County man received the injection on Aug. 28 and died earlier this week.

Also, a 13th Floridian has contracted meningitis due to the contaminated steroid.

People in 15 states have been affected by the tainted medicine from a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy. Federal health officials say 15 people have died.

Meanwhile, another Marion County meningitis victim has filed the first lawsuit in Florida against the Massachusetts pharmacy that distributed tainted steroid injections.

Vlinda York's attorney filed a lawsuit this week against the New England Compounding Center.

York was treated at the Marion Pain Management Center with two tainted steroid injections in August.

Tallahassee, FL (AP) -- Two more Floridians have been diagnosed with fungal meningitis after receiving contaminated steroid injections.

The Department of Health said Tuesday that a 74-year-old woman who was treated in Marion County and a 79-year-old woman who received the injection in Escambia County are the latest cases.

So far, 12 people in Florida have contracted fungal meningitis. Two of those people have died.

This outbreak of fungal meningitis has been linked to steroid shots for back pain. The medication, made by a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts, has been recalled.

People in 15 states have been affected. Federal health officials say there have been 212 cases of fungal meningitis, including 15 deaths.

Tallahassee, FL - October 13, 2012

Florida now has ten confirmed cases of fungal meningitis.

The Florida Department of Health confirmed Saturday that Escambia County has a case of fungal meningitis associated with contaminated steroid injections from the New England Compounding Center.

A 47-year old man who received treatment from Pain Consultants of West Florida in Pensacola was injected with one of the tainted shots.

Six facilities in Florida have received and used the contaminated injections. Florida Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong says they do not anticipate "more patients will be affected" as the investigation continues.

Health officials say the number of cases nationwide have sickened at least 184 people, including 14 deaths across 12 states. The outbreak has prompted calls for tighter federal regulation of compounding pharmacies.

Orlando, FL - October 11, 2012 - An 83-year-old in Marion County is the second person in the state to die from a national fungal meningitis outbreak.

Florida Department of Health officials on Thursday said that the man, who was not named due to health privacy laws, developed meningitis after he was injected with one of the contaminated lots of steroid medicine from the New England Compounding Center.

A 70-year old man from Marion County died in July, before the discovery of the contaminated medication.

State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong says there have been seven cases of meningitis in Florida so far, with the latest person diagnosed identified as a 48-year-old man from Marion County.

Armstrong says health officials have identified 735 of the 775 people in Florida who received contaminated injections.

Tallahassee, FL (AP) - State health officials say they've confirmed the first Florida death linked to a national meningitis outbreak.

The Florida Department of Health reported Tuesday that a 70-year old man died in July, before the discovery of the contaminated steroid medication authorities have linked to the infection. Officials say there are now six total cases in Florida, all in Marion County. More than 100 cases have been reported nationally, with about a dozen deaths.

Gov. Rick Scott said earlier Tuesday that authorities had contacted nearly 700 of the 1,185 patients linked to facilities that got tainted medicine in Marion, Miami-Dade, Orange and Escambia counties.

Health officials say as many as 13,000 people may have received tainted shots, and about 17,700 single-dose vials sent to 23 states have been recalled.

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